FM Nirmala Sitharaman Unveils Doorstep Banking Services

Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharam inaugurated Doorstep Banking Services by Public Sector Banks (PSBs) on Wednesday, which will provide the convenience of banking services to the customers at their doorsteps.

The services can be rendered by doorstep banking agents deployed by the selected Service providers at 100 centres across the country, the press release issued by the Union Finance Ministry said. "Union Minister of Finance and Corporate Affairs Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman today inaugurated Doorstep Banking Services by PSBs and participated in the awards ceremony to felicitate best performing banks on EASE Banking Reforms Index," the release said.

Observing that the service can help in providing convenience to bank customers, it added, " As part of the EASE Reforms, Doorstep Banking Services is envisaged to provide the convenience of banking services to the customers at their doorstep through the universal touchpoints of Call Centre, Web Portal or Mobile App. Customers can also track their service request through these channels."

"The services shall be rendered by the Doorstep Banking Agents deployed by the selected Service Providers at 100 centres across the country," the release added.

Pointing out that customers of Public Sector Banks can avail services at nominal charges at added, "The services shall benefit all customers, particularly Senior Citizens and Divyangs who would find it at ease to avail these services."

"PSBs have shown a healthy trajectory in their performance over four quarters since the launch of EASE 2.0 Reforms Agenda. The overall score of PSBs increased by 37 per cent between March-2019 and March-2020, with the average EASE index score improving from 49.2 to 67.4 out of 100. 

Significant progress is seen across six themes of the Reforms Agenda, with the highest improvement seen in the themes of 'Responsible Banking', 'Governance and HR', 'PSBs as Udyamimitra for MSMEs', and Credit off-take," the release added.

Stressing on major achievements between March 2018 to March 2020, it added, "Most PSB customers now have access to 35+ services such as IMPS, NEFT, RTGS, intra-bank transfer, account statement, cheque book request on mobile/ Internet banking and 23 services such as cheque book issuance, cheque status, issuance of form 16A, block/activate the debit card on the call centre. The availability of services has nearly doubled over the last 24 months.

"Nearly 4 crore active customers on mobile and internet banking with 140 per cent increase in financial transactions through mobile and internet banking channels and almost 50 per cent of financial transactions through digital channels," the release added.

(ANI)